176 THE ALABAMA OPPORTUNITY. 



Bauxite. — At this time, bauxite, which is the ore of alumi- 

 num, is known to occur in this State only in DeKalb, Cherokee, 

 Calhoun and Talladega counties. Near Rock Run in Chero- 

 kee are located the main mines of this mineral in the United 

 States, which lie mostly in Alabama though partly in Geor- 

 gia. This locality furnishes practically all the bauxite now 

 mined in this country. It is in very close association with the 

 banks of brown iron ore and kaolin or white clays already 

 mentioned. 



In Calhoun county several occurrences of bauxite have been 

 discovered, but they have not been opened up and the quality 

 of the bauxite is therefore unknown. In composition this 

 mineral is essentially a hydrated oxide of alumina, correspond- 

 ing to the hydrated oxide of iron, which constitutes the brown 

 hematite iron ore. Most of the bauxite sent. from this State 

 is used in the manufacture of alum, and not for the manufac- 

 ture of the metal aluminum. 



Red Hematite Ore. — This, the most important ore of iron 

 in this State, occurs in beds of varying thickness and of vary- 

 ing degrees of purity in the Red Mountain ridges which are 

 found usually on both sides of the long narrow valleys which 

 he to the northwest of the Coosa Valley, i. e., in Wills', Mur- 

 phree's, Jones' and in some small degree in the Cahaba Valley. 

 The ore is very unevenly distributed along these ridges, being 

 at some points near Birmingham over thirty feet in thickness, 

 but dwindling down to inconsiderable dimensions both towards 

 the northeast and the southwest. In similar way the red ore 

 ridges on the two sides of the valleys are seldom of equal value. 

 The main localities along the Red Mountain ranges where the 

 ore is mined are in the vicinity of Birmingham and Bessemer, 

 where for several miles mining operations are practically con- 

 tinuous.' Here the ore is also at its thickest, being in places 

 over thirty feet thick, though at this time only a fourth or a 

 fifth is mined, the rest being too high in silica for profitable 

 use at the prevailing low prices of iron. In time, however, 

 and probably at no distant date, the whole of this immense bed 

 of ore will be utilized, since experiments recently carried out 

 by the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company have practically dem- 

 onstrated the fact that by the use of magnetic concentrators, 

 after first rendering the ore magnetic by heating it in a fur- 

 nace in contact with producer gas. the low grade, ores can be 

 so far freed from silica as to make them available. 



